Living in southern NJ it was nice to sail from NYC rather than having to fly to another city to get a cruise. It was easy to take a Greyhound bus to Port Authority and hop a cab (less than $10) to the pier. Embarkation and disembarkation went OK, but there were long lines and it was time consuming. The ship was FULL and VERY crowded. Everywhere on the ship we had to dodge other passengers, children, strollers, etc to make our way around. The most annoying thing was the constant high level of noise especially in the atrium areas where bands, music, games, dancing lessons and entertainment of all types was going on all day and all night until about 11:00. The microphones/speakers were so loud you couldn't hear yourself think. There were bars and restaurants right in the area which we avoided due to the noise level. The atrium is several decks high so the noise is not even limited to 1 deck. Guest services is right next to the atrium and when we tried to talk to the staff there we had to shout back and forth at each other.

There are large water slides and zip lines on the pool deck which I am sure was a major attraction for families with small kids. Lots of fun for them. The pool deck was also so crowded it was difficult to find a chair. The deck chairs were arranged side by side with no room to walk between them to comfortably sit down or get up. You had to sit on the end and "scootch" yourself on and off the chair. Again, the noise level with music playing on the pool deck was deafening. I marveled at how I saw some people actually sleeping or reading through it. I wish I could have done that. We could even hear the "thump-thump" of the pool deck music from our cabin 3 decks beneath it late into the night.

In order to use our electronic devices we had to purchase an internet package. It was a waste of money. The only thing I could do was occasionally text or email. Could not send pictures and many websites would not load up. Read more